Bloopers

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents

02:26

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“Apparently her [Janet Jackson’s] wardrobe person came up with it. Justin [Timberlake] literally rehearsed it once in her dressing room before they went out onstage. I think the big mistake was that he was supposed to pull it off on [Gonna have you naked by the end of this] 'song' and he pulled it off on 'end.'” - Beth McCathy-Miller, Director

Interviewees discuss some of the unplanned occurrences that have made it on the air.

Highlights

Beth McCarthy-Miller on Ashlee Simpson's lip synch error on Saturday Night Live

Dick Van Dyke on some mishaps on the early days on television involving sled dogs

Brad Garrett on outtakes from Everybody Loves Raymond

Bob Barker on the most memorable Price is Right contestant (who lost her tube top)

Fred Rogers on working as floor manager at NBC on The Kate Smith Hour

Nanette Fabray on live, on-air mishaps during Caesar's Hour involving Sid Caesar

Who talked about this topic

Steve Allen

Steve Allen on live television mishaps on The Steve Allen Show

Richard Bare

Richard L. Bare on working with "Arnold the pig" on Green Acres

Bob Barker

Bob Barker on the most memorable Price is Right contestant (who lost her tube top)

Bonnie Bartlett

Bonnie Bartlett on mishaps while acting on Love of Life which was broadcast live

Milton Berle

Milton Berle on memorable live television mishaps on Texaco Star Theater

Milton Berle on a memorable live television mishap with Red Buttons on Texaco Star Theater

Milton Berle on the mishap with the "Barber of Seville" sketch on Texaco Star Theater and how it affected the subsequent sketch

Tom Bettag

Tom Bettag on the 1987 incident of Dan Rather walking off the air during CBS Evening News with Dan Rather

Haskell Boggs

Haskell Boggs on mishaps and close calls during his time as a director of photography

Al Borden

Al Borden on problems with props and guest stars on The Colgate Comedy Hour

Al Borden on mishaps involving props on The Colgate Comedy Hour

Carol Burnett

Carol Burnett on her favorite moment on The Garry Moore Show - on her last day on the show when the cast purposely ruined a scene to see how she'd react

Sid Caesar

Sid Caesar on accidentally being dressed in the wrong costume in a sketch "live" on Your Show of Shows

Sid Caesar on a painful gaffe on "live TV" during a Your Show of Shows parody of High Noon

Sid Caesar on forgetting Basil Rathbone's name while introducing him as the guest star on Your Show of Shows

Marge Champion

Marge Champion on mishaps on live television and appearing on Person to Person

Marge Champion on losing her dress in front of the Queen of England

Roy Clark

Roy Clark on a mishap on live television

Bill Dana with Emerson College

Bill Dana on a live television mishap

Jackie Mason with Emerson College

Jackie Mason on his infamous middle finger incident on The Ed Sullivan Show

Chuck McCann with Emerson College

Chuck McCann on his harrowing experience guest-hosting The Sandy Becker Show

Henry Colman

Henry Colman on working in live television, where an actor thought the dress rehearsal was the aired show

John Conte

John Conte on mishaps during the broadcast of Matinee Theater, and on the cancellation of the show

Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite on some of the bloopers that happened when filming live television for the program You Are There involving a historical re-creation of the Hindenburg disaster

Walter Cronkite on an awkward moment during the first Telestar sattelite transmission while interviewing Dwight Eisenhower and Marshall Montgomery

Billy Crystal

Billy Crystal on the "Willie and Phil" sketches with Christopher Guest on Saturday Night Live

Hugh Downs

Hugh Downs on a live radio slip-up and the lesson he learned from it

Hugh Downs on a live television slip-up and breaking up on primetime TV; on breaking up on radio and television

Dick Van Dyke

Dick Van Dyke on some mishaps on the early days on television involving sled dogs

Nanette Fabray

Nanette Fabray on working with the writers of Caesar's Hour, and on an on-air mishap where she was injured

Nanette Fabray on live, on-air mishaps during Caesar's Hour involving Sid Caesar

Murray Fromson

Murray Fromson on covering Barry Goldwater's 1964 whistlestop tour, and an on-air error that occurred during Roger Mudd's reporting on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite

Brad Garrett

Brad Garrett on outtakes from Everybody Loves Raymond

Greg Garrison

Greg Garrison on dealing with the network and Standards & Practices on The Dean Martin Show

Frank Gifford

Frank Gifford on bloopers from the broadcast booth

Lesli Linka Glatter

Lesli Linka Glatter on mishaps and pranks that happened while she was directing ER

Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith on where he would sit and conduct the orchestra during live Playhouse 90 broadcasts for director John Frankenheimer and on mishaps on live television

Walter E. Grauman

Producer-director Walter Grauman on the flubs made by Lights, Camera, Action (1950) emcee Walter Woolf King on "live" TV

Director Walter Grauman on working with boxer Primo Carnera on Matinee Theater: "Frankenstein" (airdate: 2/5/57), in which an overzealous and unrehearsed Carnera (playing Frankenstein's monster) threw a stuntman through the scenery

Director Walter Grauman on how a superstition led Sylvia Sidney to forget the final line on "live" TV for a Matinee Theater show [tentatively identified by Grauman as "Death of a Salesman" but possibly "The Gift and the Giver" (airdate: 12/16/57)]

Larry Hagman

Larry Hagman on a mistake made by a fellow actor on a live broadcast of The Edge of Night

Larry Hagman on a joke played on him by Patrick Duffy during Dallas

Jonathan Harris

Jonathan Harris on mistakes made on live television

Don Hastings

Don Hastings on on-air mishaps during Captain Video and His Video Rangers

Marilu Henner

Marilu Henner on Taxi bloopers

Arthur Hiller

Arthur Hiller on mishaps that occurred while directing "live" television, including NBC Matinee Theater and early CBC shows in Canada

Arthur Hiller on losing a camera while filming a "live" television show in Canada

Ron Howard

Ron Howard on a mistake he made on live TV as a child actor on Playhouse 90

Lamont Johnson

Lamont Johnson on acting opposite Ethel Barrymore on Climax!

Lamont Johnson on the challenges of directing live broadcasts of NBC Matinee Theater, and on appearing in early televised Shakespeare adaptations

Lamont Johnson on directing John Carradine in the NBC Matinee Theater production of "Dracula"

H. Wesley Kenney

H. Wesley Kenney on a technical foul-up during live broadcasts of Night Beat

H. Wesley Kenney on a technical foul-up during a live broadcast of Captain Video and His Video Rangers

Don Roy King

Don Roy King on an on-air blooper on Midday Live

Lynwood King

Lynwood King on on a live television blooper involving Sid Caesar

Ernest Kinoy

Ernest Kinoy on a mishap on the set of The Alcoa Hour

Don Knotts

Don Knotts on a moment in "live" TV in the 1950s when fellow actor Les Damon went up on his lines on soap opera Search for Tomorrow

Jack LaLanne

Jack LaLanne on live TV mishaps and working on live TV with The Jack LaLanne Show

Perry Lafferty

Perry Lafferty on James Cagney appearing on Robert Montgomery Presents and on Cagney forgetting his lines

Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury on getting a case of the giggles in rehearsal on a show with Richard Kiley, likely Lux VideoTheatre's "Operation Weekend"

Jack Lemmon

Jack Lemmon on the worst thing that happened to him on live television

Barry Levinson

Barry Levinson on his (somewhat disastrous) first day on a live television set, which took place during a training program he took part in while a student at American University

Sam Lovullo

Sam Lovullo on the bloopers of Hew Haw, often left in, and on the set design of the show

Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lument on the technical challenges of doing Danger live, and on mishaps during the broadcasts

Martin Manulis

Martin Manulis on a mishap during a live broadcast of Climax!, when an extra who was supposed to be playing dead got up and walked away in the middle of a scene

Richard Matheson

Richard Matheson on appearing in the miniseries Captains and the Kings as President Garfield

Beth McCarthy-Miller

Beth McCarthy-Miller on on-air mishaps on Saturday Night Live and the stress of directing it

Beth McCarthy-Miller on Ashlee Simpson's lip synch error on Saturday Night Live

Walter C. Miller

Walter C. Miller on a memorable blooper during a live broadcast of The Aldrich Family

Walter C. Miller on a blooper on The Bell Telephone Hour episode "The Music of Romance" with Helen Hayes and Farley Granger

Rita Moreno

Rita Moreno on various mishaps that happened during live broadcasts

Robert Mott

Robert Mott on various live television bloopers including on Studio One, Betty Furness' Westinghouse commercial, and The Web

Robert Mott on a Captain Kangaroo blooper

Frank Nastasi

Frank Nastasi on The Soupy Sales Show naked girl prank

Alan Neuman

Alan Neuman on memorable bloopers on Kraft Television Theatre

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy recalling that Lloyd Bridges accidentally swore on live TV

Leonard Nimoy on James Coburn oversleeping for a call on M Squad but stardom was around the corner

Arthur Penn

Arthur Penn on bloopers on Playhouse 90

Don Pike

Don Pike on bloopers on live television he witnessed

Charlotte Rae

Charlotte Rae on a blooper she witnessed on The Ed Sullivan Show, and on a blooper she was involved with on Appointment With Adventure

Charlotte Rae on a blooper she was involved with on The DuPont Show of the Month

Gene Reynolds

Gene Reynolds on mishaps during live television

Gene Reynolds on mishaps during live television

Fred Rogers

Fred Rogers on working as floor manager at NBC on The Kate Smith Hour

Andy Rooney

Andy Rooney on some of the mishaps he witnessed on live television, particularly on Calendar

Thomas W. Sarnoff

Thomas W. Sarnoff on a live TV blooper during the airing of an episode of Marshal of Gunsight Pass (1950)

Jan Scott

Jan Scott on mishaps she witnessed on live television, and on going to work for the NBC station in Philadelphia

Jan Scott on mishaps in live productions she worked on

Paul Shaffer

Music arranger-composer/performer Paul Shaffer on musical guest John Sebastian stopping his vocals after microphone feedback on Saturday Night Live's live broadcast

Jack Shea

Jack Shea on mishaps during the era of live television

Sid Smith

Sid Smith on live mishaps on the Miss U.S.A. and Miss Universe pageants

Leonard Stern

Leonard Stern on Jackie Gleason, who memorized his lines, making a mistake on a commercial for Schick

Maxine Stuart

Maxine Stuart on live television mishaps

George Takei

George Takei on working on a Playhouse 90 where an actor forgot his lines and pantomimed until he remembered

Studs Terkel

Studs Terkel on actor Chet Roble accidentally referring to sponsor Manor House Coffee as rival Maxwell House Coffee on Studs' Place during a "live" commercial

Stanford Tischler

Stanford Tischler on editing the blooper reels for M*A*S*H

Helen Wagner

Helen Wagner on mishaps that happened on live television

Clint Walker

Clint Walker on being overly tired on the set of Cheyenne and misspeaking a line about gun butts.

Dennis Weaver

Dennis Weaver on the first television shows he appeared in during the late 1940s

Tucker Wiard

Tucker Wiard on bloopers from The Carol Burnett Show

Alan Zweibel

Alan Zweibel on the disastrous, primetime Saturday Night Live "Live from Mardi Gras" special

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